one day at a time, a simple solution that birthed an organization.
STREET ADDICTION No one knows the ins and outs of One Day at a Time (ODAAT) quite like its president, Mel Wells. His involvement in the program goes back to the literal ground oor: the rst clients slept one room over from Wells in his childhood home, where his father founded the organization in 1983. The accommodations were modest, the aspirations lofty. Wells says his father, Rev. Henry T. Wells, started welcoming recovering addicts into his home after being released from detox. It wasn’t his rst time drying out, but he decided to make it his last. Like many other addicts facing a new world of recovery, the elder Wells was faced with the question of “what now?” His answer was to keep on living Wells himself is a prime example of how ODAAT’s holistic recovery plan can change a life of addiction to, in Wells’ case, one of service to others, proving that anyone can bene t from a lifestyle change. Although Wells used drugs, he says he doesn’t consider himself an addict or alcoholic, and credits his success to his recovery. Caught up in a lifestyle of street crime like selling drugs, committing robberies, and violence, Wells says he saw his share of tragedy. He witnessed several friends shot to death in front of his eyes; one passed away in Wells’ arms, and he describes the situation as a desperate moment of clarity. “My moment of sanity was me looking at him dying in my arms and imagining that was me,” Wells says. “I didn’t want to be the next one to die.” He says the streets can either bestow you with a conscience, or strip it away, and he wants to help people of all ages hold onto hope, and avoid the fate of his peers growing up. According to Wells, out of 35 or so students in his fth grade class, he is one of three still alive today. The other two are incarcerated.
“I NEVER KNEW ANY DANGER AT HOME...ALL I SAW WAS LOVE.” - Mel Wells Mel took over leadership of ODAAT in 2005, continuing a tradition based on the founding principles of family, love and day-by-day living. The clients he sees today are just like the ones that shared his home growing up. Most are ex-criminals and recovering addicts, but Wells says he never feared their rougher sides, and quickly developed an open attitude of fearless acceptance. “I never knew any danger at home,” says Wells. “I didn’t know if we were poor or rich, all I saw was love.”
A MESSAGE OF HOPE
With lifelong experience practicing love and tolerance, Wells says he has watched ODAAT grow from a single bedroom to a network that helps more than 50,000 people annually. He has continued to expand ODAAT’s reach as president by implementing new outreach initiatives and programs, like heading up a landscaping team that exclusively employs ex-offenders who might have trouble nding employment elsewhere due to a criminal record. Wells’ leadership stems from a family approach he learned from his mother and father. And through his father’s life story and his own, Wells aims to convey the message to every person who encounters a struggle, big or small, that the future is not yet written, and the past doesn’t have to block a positive future. “I want people to know that there is hope,” he says. “If I can do it, they can do it. Anybody can turn their life around.”
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